Golf: Philippines’ central bank now owns Evercrest Golf Club Resort
The hammer dropped on Saturday evening and marked the Evercrest Golf Club Resort as property of the Philippines central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Evercrest Golf Club Resort, which is located in the heart of Nasugbu, Batangas was transferred to BSP when the owner failed to repay the loan by due date.
Orient Bank owned the golf club until early 2008, but they issued P5 billion worth of loan in 1990s, which they failed to repay. The bank was given redemption several times, but it failed to return the principal amount. In the last week of December 2010,
the court issued the Registry of Deeds to BSP, which gave the bank the rights of sale and purchase.
BSP General Counsel Juan de Zuniga said, “After a long court battle, we [BSP] were able to take possession of it. The Registry of Deeds already issued us the title.”
He further gave the details of the takeover. He disclosed that the property was value at P1.2 billion in 2009, but the bank was thinking of revaluing it in mid 2011 before sending it for auction.
According to the details provided, Orient Bank, which was a property of Jose Go, obtained the loan in 1999, as the bank was facing liquidity issues. The golf resort was one of the several assets owned by the bank; therefore, BSP claimed the course in collateral
and obtained the Registry of Deeds. However, BSP took over the property on 31 December 2010.
De Zuniga added that the bank had no plans of retaining the property and would sell it in 2011, but before that, some renovation had to be performed to make the asset attractive for the buyers.
He added, “We know nothing about operating a golf course, and so we intend to sell it. But first, it has undergo some refurbishment.”
The operations of the resort have been put to halt, but the bank is working on the legal issues related with the rights of members of the club.
Moreover, the golf club will undergo an auction in the upcoming months, but if the auction fails then BSP will negotiate a deal with private bidders.
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